John Logan was born in Iowa in 1923, and did graduate work at Iowa University and at Georgetown and Notre Dame. Logan was the author of 14 books of poetry and was an influential poet and teacher. Among the best known of his poetry collections are Spring of the Thief (1963) and Only the Dreamer Can Change the Dream, which won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize in 1982. Logan also wrote an autobiographical novel, a children’s book, a play, and a collection of essays. He was the father of nine children and taught at a number of universities. He died in 1987 in San Francisco. BOA Editions published his Collected Poems in 1988. The poem is printed with permission.